Chapter 2908: Interlude · Final Countdown_2

Chapter 2908: Chapter 1379: Interlude · Final Countdown_2

Motan smiled faintly, then asked, “So in the finals, that Snow Bathing Sword from Holy Spear Knight Academy—you remember her, right?”

Cui Xiaoyu kept nodding, and said loudly, “Yeah, I remember, I remember. That white straight hair, damn, how could I not?”

“Pfft~”

Yu Chen couldn’t help but laugh, then said with a smile, “Xiao Yu’s focus is still as special as ever.”

“Gotta be.”

Cui Xiaoyu puffed out his chest, raised his chin and put his hands on his hips, as if Yu Chen was complimenting him.

“Since that’s the case, you should’ve heard that that white straight-haired girl is one of the top ten on the Personal Combat Power Rankings.”

Motan followed along with Cui Xiaoyu’s words, then asked seriously, “Do you feel like you can beat her relatively easily?”

Cui Xiaoyu curled his index finger and pressed it to the front of his forehead, trying to recall for quite a while before slowly nodding, “I can beat her, but it probably won’t be particularly easy.”

Wanyang immediately got curious and hurriedly asked, “What do you mean by ‘not easy’?”

Cui Xiaoyu looked at him with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, “If my opponent is that girl, I might have to open three sets—no, maybe even four sets of Runes at the same time in order to…”

“In order to defeat her?”

Kanglan’s expression visibly turned a bit disappointed.

“In order to one-shot her.”

Cui Xiaoyu corrected him solemnly.

Everyone: “…”

At least five seconds passed before Kanglan finally jumped up from the sofa in a fury, pointing at Cui Xiaoyu’s nose and roaring, “So what you mean by ‘not easy’ is that you can’t one-shot her casually, huh? You actually have to take it seriously to complete the instant kill, huh?”

Cui Xiaoyu nodded in all seriousness, “Yeah, yeah.”

“I f—… I f— I honestly don’t even know how to communicate with this damn cheater anymore…”

Kanglan bent down, grabbed his drink, downed it in one go to steady his nerves, then said with a rather broken expression, “Anyway, that’s this beast’s strength level: fighting some big daddy in the top ten of the rankings, he needs to put in a bit of effort to one-shot them. If that doesn’t count as a power gap, then me and classmate Xiaoge’s looks are pretty much neck and neck.”

Wanyang also took a sip of his drink, his gaze gradually turning greedy. “So what you’re saying is…”

“Here’s how it is: if they don’t hold this kind of tournament, fine. But once they do, then the rewards are gonna be insane. Whether it’s individual or team events, or even if it’s purely a team event—so long as the officials organize it, the rewards for the top fifty… no, top hundred, will be stupidly fat.”

Kanglan slammed his cup heavily onto the table, then looked at Cui Xiaoyu with a rather lecherous gaze. “And with Xiao Yu’s current strength, unless he runs into that question mark who’s ranked first, every enemy in front of him is just trash chickens and stray dogs. Doesn’t even need teammates to show up, just him alone can turn on Wu Shuang mode and steamroll straight to champion. With conditions this sweet, wouldn’t it be a bit of a waste if we don’t make use of them?”

Maybe because this guy’s speech was too rousing, everyone except Ji Xiaodao the ‘scenery enjoyer’ subconsciously nodded. Not hard to understand—after all, even someone like Yu Chen, who basically has no ambition, wouldn’t say no to rewards that can make her stronger.

But as the person in question, Cui Xiaoyu sniffed and said with a completely nonchalant look, “Isn’t it a bit too early to be talking about this now? Mm, though I’m quite happy you all love me this much…”

“It’s not love you. It’s that instead of letting someone else hug your big fat thigh, we’d rather keep the discount for our own people.”

Kanglan waved his hand, expression very serious. “And don’t talk about early or not. What I mean is, we first set a general direction, then we can start scouting teammates, at least find two or three. If it’s a team event, the scale’s gotta be at least three-person teams, and at most it won’t exceed five-person teams.”

Wanyang’s gaze sharpened as he followed the train of thought. “So the main point right now is still to rope in Xiao Yu, huh? So… what, we start bidding?”

“I don’t mind.”

Kanglan shrugged. His gaze was burning, but his expression was still fairly restrained. “But we still gotta see what Xiao Yu himself says.”

“Here’s what I think—no need to get tangled up over me.”

Cui Xiaoyu sighed, then suddenly slapped his thigh. “Let’s do this: if the team size for that whatever team event can fit everyone who wants to participate, we just form one team directly. I’ll lead the charge and go for the championship. You guys don’t have a problem with that, right?”

“No problem.”

Kanglan nodded, but then frowned. “Except my gut tells me the size of each team probably won’t be that big.”

Cui Xiaoyu’s thick eyebrows lifted. “Is your gut reliable?”

“Here’s how it is—the reason Wanyang got his ass handed to him at cards just now wasn’t without cause.”

Kanglan raised a hand to point at the unjustly sniped Wanyang, and said leisurely, “Motan relies on skill, computing power and card-cheating techniques. I rely purely on intuition.”

Cui Xiaoyu thought about it for a moment, then chickened out. “Please, go on.”

“Go on my ass.”

Kanglan rolled his eyes and croaked, “You were the one talking just now, remember?”

“Oh, oh, then I’ll continue…”

Cui Xiaoyu finally realized he had indeed been the one giving his opinion earlier, and hurriedly went on, “So if the team size can be made bigger, the previous issue disappears. But if the size is small, like three-person teams or something, then what I mean is… I won’t mix myself in with you guys.”

Motan was slightly stunned and asked curiously, “You’re not participating?”

“I’m definitely participating. I mean, why would I turn down a free chance to cheat and show off?”

Cui Xiaoyu chuckled and said happily, “Here’s how I see it: since we’re all our own people, it’s not suitable for me to be with any of you, and it’d mess up the balance too much. Just happens I’ve got a little bro I get along with pretty well, though his strength’s kinda meh. When the time comes, I’ll team up with him. I’ll carry him for a few rounds if I can, and if we run into any of you, I’ll just forfeit and send you up. Isn’t that more fair?”

Everyone exchanged a look. Clearly none of them had expected Cui Xiaoyu to propose a path they’d never even considered.

After a brief discussion, they quickly reached a consensus—namely: this way actually doesn’t sound half bad!

…

Time flowed on; years flew by like a shuttle.

That night, Game Time AM07:39

[Your Consciousness link has been detected, synchronizing personal information…]

[Link complete, reading character information]

[Welcome back, Chaotic Evil Jiawen, now loading The Realm of Innocence. Good night.]

…

Academy City’s Central District, top floor of Liuli Pavilion, Luxury Suite 807

Ever since she came to Academy City, Jiawen, who had almost never changed her Thousand Faces appearance, opened her eyes. She reflexively raised a hand to touch the outer rim of the mask on her face and let out a quiet breath.

She didn’t know when it started, but this purely decorative secondary mask had grown heavier and heavier, to the point that every time she logged in she needed a few seconds to adapt. And the reason was nothing more than a strange psychological effect.

Clearly she’d always been proud, convinced she was second to none, yet now she was being crushed in a mere game by a measly “Sin Knight” identity to the point of struggling to breathe. What’s more, this pressure was something she herself had put on herself. Every time she thought of that, Jiawen would feel a bit hurt.

However, she didn’t dislike this feeling. In fact, ever since Bai Fuxi ended up behind bars and she’d gradually started taking over large portions of the family business, she even felt that her “workplace” in the game was more interesting.

Though her original intention of coming in to relax had long been tossed aside, racking her brains to work for that “boss” still felt pretty good—especially once she realized this game was anything but simple.

This “business trip” had long since grown dull and irritating for her. If she could, Jiawen would dearly love for that yet-unformed storm in the Southwest to arrive a bit sooner, a bit faster.

Fortunately, the meeting was finally approaching its end. Soon, she’d be able to return to that country which, though suffocatingly oppressive, always had someone standing there holding up the gloom for her.

But before that, there was still one meeting that was the centerpiece of the exchange conference, and another piece of work the boss had specifically instructed her to wrap up. That was the most important and most interesting job she had in this scene…

“Ah Qing.”

She lazily stood up and called softly.

“Miss.”

Her confidante, wearing a mischievous smile, walked out of the shadows at a measured pace.

“Is that Priest’s Robe finished?”

“It was already finished last night.”

“Mm, bring it here. I’ll try it on and see if it fits.”

Chapter 1379: End